Sprint to Buy Nextel in $35 Billion Deal NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sprint Corp. (FON.N: Quote , Profile , Research ) on Wednesday agreed to buy mobile telephone company Nextel Communications Inc. (NXTL.O: Quote , Profile , Research ) in a deal worth $35.17 billion to gain more business customers and more airwaves to transmit calls. The deal, which was widely expected, would combine the No. 3 and No. 5 U.S. wireless carriers and create a new company with about 40 million customers, greatly narrowing the gap with industry leaders Cingular Wireless (SBC.N: Quote , Profile , Research ) (BLS.N: Quote , Profile , Research ) and Verizon Wireless (VZ.N: Quote , Profile , Research ) (VOD.L: Quote , Profile , Research ) . Sprint plans to spin off its local telephone business to shareholders of the new company, to be called Sprint Nextel, as part of the deal. The transaction values Nextel at $32.63 per share based on Tuesday's closing prices, representing a premium of almost 9 percent over Nextel's closing price of $29.99 on Nasdaq on Tuesday. Nextel shares rose 2.5 percent to $30.75 in pre-market trade on the Inet electronic brokerage system, and Sprint shares fell nearly 3 percent to $24.40. The companies, which have a combined market capitalization of about $70 billion and had combined revenue of $40 billion for the 12 months ended Sept. 30, said they expect to derive savings of about $12 billion from the deal, which the boards of both companies have unanimously approved. The combined revenue figure includes about $6 billion from Sprint's local telephone business. The deal leaves the company's next biggest competitor, T-Mobile USA, owned by Deutsche Telekom AG (DTEGn.DE: Quote , Profile , Research ) , a distant fourth among U.S. national carriers with about 16.3 million customers. Under the terms of the deal, existing Sprint shares will remain outstanding and Nextel shares will be converted into shares of the new company and a small amount of cash, valuing each Nextel share at about 1.3 shares of Sprint Nextel common stock. The stock and cash allocation will be determined at the closing to ensure the local business spinoff is tax free, and the cash portion of the deal will not exceed $2.8 billion. At current figures, Nextel shareholders would receive about 1.28 Sprint Nextel shares and 50 cents in cash for each Nextel share, the companies said. Sprint Chairman and Chief Executive Gary Forsee is to become CEO of the new company, and Nextel CEO Timothy Donahue will become chairman. Sprint Chief Operating Officer Len Lauer and Nextel Chief Financial Officer Paul Saleh will maintain their roles at the new company.     Continued ... Quelle "Sprint to Buy Nextel in $35 Billion Deal" : reuters.com Main page for "Sprint to Buy Nextel in $35 Billion Deal"